So what is in your hand? Did you do some thinking about that question? Let's continue this journey.
When God asked Moses what he had in his hand, surely God knew already. Why did He then ask? Because Moses had to realise that there was something he already had that he could use. When he recognised what was in his hand, God told him what to do with it.
When the prophet asked the widow what she had in her house, she had to think what she could contribute to solving her problem. When she recognised that she still had some oil left, God could multiply it for her.
There are more stories like this in the Bible. And many people will give you true accounts of their own experiences in the same scenario.
So now that you know what you have in your hand, ask God what to do with it.
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
What is in your hand?
Yesterday, I posted a really nice email I got from a special friend. The message of the email was to water the areas in your life that you want to bloom.
Today, I want to ask you a question: What is in your hand?
So often we pray for things that we want, but we don't do anything worthwhile with the things we have. Jesus said that if you have proven yourself faithful in the little things, He will in turn trust you with bigger things.
For instance - it's no use praying for a smarter job, but the spare time you have in your hand, you spend in front of the TV instead of investing it in a better qualification. It's no use praying for a partner, but you don't build your relationship with your First Love - Jesus.
So stop and think for a moment - what do you have in your hand? What did God give to you already and what are you doing with it? Think about time and money among other things. What are you trusting God for? Have you proved yourself trustworthy with the things you have in your hand?
I think we all have some soul searching to do.
Today, I want to ask you a question: What is in your hand?
So often we pray for things that we want, but we don't do anything worthwhile with the things we have. Jesus said that if you have proven yourself faithful in the little things, He will in turn trust you with bigger things.
For instance - it's no use praying for a smarter job, but the spare time you have in your hand, you spend in front of the TV instead of investing it in a better qualification. It's no use praying for a partner, but you don't build your relationship with your First Love - Jesus.
So stop and think for a moment - what do you have in your hand? What did God give to you already and what are you doing with it? Think about time and money among other things. What are you trusting God for? Have you proved yourself trustworthy with the things you have in your hand?
I think we all have some soul searching to do.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Is the grass really greener on that side?
There's an old saying: "The grass is always greener on the other side." At some point in life, everyone looks at their circumstances and thinks, "If only. If only I had a better job. If only my spouse were like so-and-so. If only I had gone to college. If only I had the opportunities so-and-so had." We look around and think everyone else has it better than we do. But I believe comparison is just a trick of the enemy to get us off course and keep us from God's best. Comparison is the thief of joy, and if the enemy can steal our joy, he has stolen our source of strength.
See, I don't believe the grass is greener on the other side; I believe the grass is greener where you water it. In other words, we have to tend to the things that are important to us if we want to see those areas of our lives blossom and grow. If you want better relationships, you have to invest in the people around you. If you want a better job, you have to invest in your skill set to qualify for that job and then go after it.
See, I don't believe the grass is greener on the other side; I believe the grass is greener where you water it. In other words, we have to tend to the things that are important to us if we want to see those areas of our lives blossom and grow. If you want better relationships, you have to invest in the people around you. If you want a better job, you have to invest in your skill set to qualify for that job and then go after it.
We all have the capacity to come up higher. God has given us all tremendous opportunities, but if we are focused on what everyone else has, we'll miss out on what God has especially for us!
Today, instead of comparing, decide to cultivate the dry, fallow areas of your life. Begin to water and invest in the areas in which you want to see change. Get a vision and dedicate it to the Lord. As you take responsibility and tend to what the Lord has given you, I believe He'll pour out His blessing and favour, and you'll see your life flourish beyond anything you could have ever hoped or dreamed.
If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit
Proverbs 27:18 - The Message
Monday, 27 June 2011
Fly away...
Some days I can cope with it. Those irritating comments. Irritating people. The endless noise. The office drone that just never fades. Other days I just can't. Today is one of the latter.
I often dream I can fly. Since I was a child I had dreams in which I could fly. As the years progressed and maturity came, I came to realise that my flying ability in my dreams was a direct mirror of my spiritual condition. Whenever I could fly well in my dreams, I was standing strong spiritually. Whenever I couldn't, I had some thinking to do. Somewhere I was disobedient to the Lord. Somewhere something was wrong.
I wonder how many times I stood outside the office when it all became too much, wishing I could just open my wings and fly away. Away from all the irritating components that make up life. How wonderful that would have been to just fly home. If it could be anything like the experience in my dreams, it would be amazing.
In reality though, I am stuck with my feet firmly on the ground. How sad. Now I escape from it by putting earphones on my head. Sweet, heavenly music can make anything better. I pour our my frustrations on this blog or in a poem. Eventually, through the grace of God, I can look at the person I despised five minutes ago and pity him. He can't help it - he doesn't know God. Nothing but the love of God can ever change him. Actually he is so poor. Pathetically poor. What pours out of his mouth is just an indication of the huge void inside of him.
Maybe that's why I can't fly. Maybe I should pray for him whenever I feel like flying away from him.
I often dream I can fly. Since I was a child I had dreams in which I could fly. As the years progressed and maturity came, I came to realise that my flying ability in my dreams was a direct mirror of my spiritual condition. Whenever I could fly well in my dreams, I was standing strong spiritually. Whenever I couldn't, I had some thinking to do. Somewhere I was disobedient to the Lord. Somewhere something was wrong.
I wonder how many times I stood outside the office when it all became too much, wishing I could just open my wings and fly away. Away from all the irritating components that make up life. How wonderful that would have been to just fly home. If it could be anything like the experience in my dreams, it would be amazing.
In reality though, I am stuck with my feet firmly on the ground. How sad. Now I escape from it by putting earphones on my head. Sweet, heavenly music can make anything better. I pour our my frustrations on this blog or in a poem. Eventually, through the grace of God, I can look at the person I despised five minutes ago and pity him. He can't help it - he doesn't know God. Nothing but the love of God can ever change him. Actually he is so poor. Pathetically poor. What pours out of his mouth is just an indication of the huge void inside of him.
Maybe that's why I can't fly. Maybe I should pray for him whenever I feel like flying away from him.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Maybe we should kneel more...
A distinguished art critic was studying an exquisite painting by the Italian Renaissance master Filippino Lippi one day. He stood in London's National Gallery gazing at the fifteenth century depiction of Mary holding the infant Jesus on her lap, with saints Dominic and Jerome kneeling nearby, but the painting troubled him. There could no doubting Lippi's skill, his use of colour or composition. But the proportions of the picture were slightly wrong: The hills in the background seemed exaggerated, as if they might topple out of the frame at any minute onto the gallery's polished floor. And the two kneeling saints just looked awkward and uncomfortable.
Robert Cumming was not the first to criticize Lippi's work for its poor perspective, but he may well be the last to do so, because at that moment he had a revelation. It suddenly occurred to him that the problem might be his. The painting he was analyzing with clinical objectivity was not just another piece of religious art hanging in a gallery alongside other comparative works. It had never been intended to come anywhere near a gallery. Lippi's painting had been commissioned as an altarpiece, intended to hang in a place of prayer.
As so, self-consciously, the dignified art critic in the public gallery dropped to his knees before the painting. And suddenly he saw what generations of art critics had missed. From his newfound position of humility, Robert Cumming found himself gazing up at a perfectly proportioned piece. The foreground had moved naturally to the background, while the saints seem settled - their awkwarness, like the painting itself, having turned to grace. And as for Mary, she now looked intently and kindly directly at him as he knelt at her feet between saints Jerome and Dominic.
It was not the perspective of the painting that had been wrong all these years - it was the perspective of the people looking at it. Robert Cumming on bended knee had found a beauty that Robert Cumming the proud art critic could not. All these years, the joke had been upon the succession of experts standing, studying, and analyzing instead of kneeling humbly in prayer.
An excerpt from The Vow by Pete Greig.
Robert Cumming was not the first to criticize Lippi's work for its poor perspective, but he may well be the last to do so, because at that moment he had a revelation. It suddenly occurred to him that the problem might be his. The painting he was analyzing with clinical objectivity was not just another piece of religious art hanging in a gallery alongside other comparative works. It had never been intended to come anywhere near a gallery. Lippi's painting had been commissioned as an altarpiece, intended to hang in a place of prayer.
As so, self-consciously, the dignified art critic in the public gallery dropped to his knees before the painting. And suddenly he saw what generations of art critics had missed. From his newfound position of humility, Robert Cumming found himself gazing up at a perfectly proportioned piece. The foreground had moved naturally to the background, while the saints seem settled - their awkwarness, like the painting itself, having turned to grace. And as for Mary, she now looked intently and kindly directly at him as he knelt at her feet between saints Jerome and Dominic.
It was not the perspective of the painting that had been wrong all these years - it was the perspective of the people looking at it. Robert Cumming on bended knee had found a beauty that Robert Cumming the proud art critic could not. All these years, the joke had been upon the succession of experts standing, studying, and analyzing instead of kneeling humbly in prayer.
An excerpt from The Vow by Pete Greig.
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Who are we?
I heard a fantastic sermon on Sunday. I am still pondering on all the things the guest speaker said. It was too much to absorb in just one sermon. Actually, I think God is busy stirring my heart, nudging me to a higher spiritual level.
Who are we really? Oh it's easy to say that we are Christians, forgiven by grace and that we will inherit eternal life. It's easy to believe that too. Why? Because we don't have to do anything. Jesus did it all. So yes, we believe all of that. But there is more. The same Bible that states all of the things we believe so easily, also states that we are sons and daughters of the Most High God. You believe that too don't you? I do! So why are we not acting the role? We have been given authority to do the same miracles AND MORE than what Jesus did - He said so Himself. So why don't we believe it? Why don't we do it? Why don't we live with the attitude of a son or daughter of the Most High God?
We have been programmed by the world to only believe certain things in the Bible, not all of it. We believe in miracles yes, but only if other people pray for them. We don't want to trust God ourselves. We think it's reserved for some famous American preacher. Hogwash. This incorrect attitude comes through in how we speak too. If someone asks how we are, we give horrible answers like "poor but alive". And we laugh as if it's funny. No wonder we are poor! Spiritually and physically! We confess it daily!
As of today, I am changing my attitude towards life. I am a daughter of the King. I am a daughter of the Most High God. I will respond to the question of how I am like my mentor responds:
I am highly favoured and abundantly blessed!
Join me. Start confessing God's favour and blessing upon your life. Start acting like the son or the daughter you are. Pray that God will show us through Holy Spirit what we are, and what He wants us to do. Let's live with boldness!
We are highly favoured and abundantly blessed!
Who are we really? Oh it's easy to say that we are Christians, forgiven by grace and that we will inherit eternal life. It's easy to believe that too. Why? Because we don't have to do anything. Jesus did it all. So yes, we believe all of that. But there is more. The same Bible that states all of the things we believe so easily, also states that we are sons and daughters of the Most High God. You believe that too don't you? I do! So why are we not acting the role? We have been given authority to do the same miracles AND MORE than what Jesus did - He said so Himself. So why don't we believe it? Why don't we do it? Why don't we live with the attitude of a son or daughter of the Most High God?
We have been programmed by the world to only believe certain things in the Bible, not all of it. We believe in miracles yes, but only if other people pray for them. We don't want to trust God ourselves. We think it's reserved for some famous American preacher. Hogwash. This incorrect attitude comes through in how we speak too. If someone asks how we are, we give horrible answers like "poor but alive". And we laugh as if it's funny. No wonder we are poor! Spiritually and physically! We confess it daily!
As of today, I am changing my attitude towards life. I am a daughter of the King. I am a daughter of the Most High God. I will respond to the question of how I am like my mentor responds:
I am highly favoured and abundantly blessed!
Join me. Start confessing God's favour and blessing upon your life. Start acting like the son or the daughter you are. Pray that God will show us through Holy Spirit what we are, and what He wants us to do. Let's live with boldness!
We are highly favoured and abundantly blessed!
Monday, 20 June 2011
Hallo!
Hallo every one. Sorry for the long silence.
I was fighting a mean bronchitis for over a week. I will post again either later today or as from tomorrow.
Be blessed
I was fighting a mean bronchitis for over a week. I will post again either later today or as from tomorrow.
Be blessed
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